in a pair of blankets. In the well-appointed galley, she came into his arms and they allowed themselves some personal time. For Chan it was a welcome distraction from the demands of his office and Kai gave him much to think about. She was as skilled as she was beautiful, and Chan found himself briefly allowing his demanding mission to be pushed aside.
* * *
THE LONG FLIGHT ended in late afternoon. The Gulfstream took a lengthy sweep as it lined up on the single runway of the private airfield and made a fast approach, with barely a jolt as it touched down. It slowed and cruised to the parking area, coming to a gentle stop adjacent to the small airport building.
Chan had rested, worked and was in a pleasurable mood.
“Colonel, it may be cold when you disembark,” Kai said. “I have your overcoat here.”
“Thank you, my dear.” Chan stood and allowed her to assist him in putting on the long coat. “The flight has been made bearable by your presence once again, Jui. I am so pleased you are here.”
“Of course, Colonel. The aircraft will be serviced and refueled for your convenience.”
Chan touched her shoulder, a pleasant thought filling his head. “Perhaps you would join me for a meal when I have some free time. Come and see where we are working. The house is a delight. I am sure you would enjoy seeing it.”
“That would be my pleasure, Colonel Chan.”
“Then I will send my driver for you.”
“I look forward to that and seeing you once more.”
They said no more while there was the chance of being overheard.
Having spent the flight sleeping and sipping whiskey, Yang Zhou roused himself from his reclined seat to gaze through the window. He stared out at the ranks of snowcapped mountain peaks rising above the green forests of fir and pine. Above the high crags the sky was crystal-clear and blue.
Chan smiled at the man’s discomfort. He took his attaché case and made for the now open exit. As he stepped onto the tarmac he breathed in the fresh, cold air. It felt good. Zhou, still fastening his own coat, was muttering under his breath, not at all happy. As they moved away from the Gulfstream, Kai, who had followed them out, said quietly, “I will look forward to your call, Colonel.”
Chan smiled at her. “It will come,” he said. “I promise you that, my dear.”
He paused and patted his companion on the shoulder.
“Zhou, welcome to Switzerland,” he said.
Hal Brognola, head of the covert operations based at Stony Man Farm, walked beside the President of the United States. They were at Camp David, where the President was taking a brief respite from the demands of the job. But even while he tried to wind down, he still maintained a hands-on attitude. The Commander in Chief never truly stepped away from his responsibilities, which was why he had requested Brognola’s presence to discuss a matter that was on his mind.
The tranquil atmosphere of the presidential retreat surrounded the pair as they strolled through the grounds. Unobtrusive Secret Service men followed them at a discreet distance. Brognola and the President were wearing thick topcoats against the chill of the wintery weather. The odd snowflake drifted between them. There was a promise of more in the air.
“You’ve probably worked out why I asked you to join me, Hal.”
“Kaplan going missing? We already got the word from Doug Buchanan. He picked up on Kaplan’s tracker going off-line and the failure of the device fitted to the Air Force vehicle. Agent Valens briefed us, as well. So we know about Kaplan going missing, which brings Zero into the picture.”
“Am I ever going to catch you Stony Man people out?” the President said.
“I hope not. If you ever do, Mr. President, that will be the day I resign.”
“Don’t even think about it, Hal.” The President paused to stare around him at the tranquil scene. “I sit in my office at the White House, door closed, hoping to catch a minute. Never works. But coming here is a different ball game. Just walking through these trees, surrounded by silence...it gives me space to sort out what’s buzzing around in my head.”
“And right now that’s Saul Kaplan,” Brognola concluded.
“We have to find him, Hal. Get him back alive and well.” The President hesitated before he said, “The bottom line would be to say if he can’t be retrieved then his life might have to be forfeit. I hate having to even think about that, Hal, but the knowledge Kaplan has must not be allowed to remain in enemy hands.”
“I understand that, Mr. President. Stony Man is already on this,” Brognola said.
He knew that even as he was speaking to the President the cyber team at the Farm was working flat-out as it searched for information on the whereabouts of Zero’s creator and guiding light. Stony Man had been involved with the Zero Project from its early days, with Mack Bolan stepping up to investigate when Doug Buchanan had gone AWOL. The resolution of that incident had been getting Buchanan back into the program and finally installed on Zero. If there was anything to find, where Kaplan was concerned, Aaron Kurtzman’s team would unearth it. They had the best equipment available, along with the ability to hack into databases and systems that were supposed to be hacker-resistant. The state-of-the-art technology was only as good as the people using it, and the Stony Man cyber team had no equals. If it was out there, Kurtzman’s team would find it, interpret it and strip out the data they needed.
“Zero has become a valuable listening post for us,” the President said. “I don’t have to tell you how valuable. When we complete the development of the laser-particle beam weapons systems, Zero is going to become even better than it already is.”
“Are we still having operational problems with the laser-particle beam systems?”
“Zero has conventional missiles and Slingshot capability,” the President said. “The added refinement of the other weapons is proving to be difficult. Development is ongoing. We will get there, Hal, but right now those weapons are still in the theoretical stage. There are complex problems we are still trying to overcome. Major Buchanan is working with Zero Command in the development alongside Kaplan, which is another reason why we mustn’t allow a foreign power to have their chance to get that kind of information out of him.”
“I can understand that, sir. Even without them, Zero is still a hell of an achievement. No other country has anything to match it.”
“Not at this moment in time. Which is exactly why somewhere like China would like to get their hands on it. Hal, we cannot allow this to happen. Zero is our high card. It gives us one hell of an advantage in the defense game. I won’t let it be taken from us. We fight this, Hal, with everything we have. Stony Man. Your teams. I’ll give you whatever you need in backup all the way down the line. No question here. We keep Zero because if someone like China gets its hands on it, we’ll all be in trouble. My God, Hal, can you imagine what would happen if we lost Zero to Beijing?”
“Unfortunately, I can, sir. Which makes this latest move against Saul Kaplan something we need to fully address. Stony Man will put everything
